Sleep is as essential to your body as food and water.
Your health, attitude, and performance are directly affected by the quantity and quality of sleep you obtain.
Sleep experts suggest an average of seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
However, some people are fully functional and alert with less yet others need ten or more.
Heredity is one factor that determines how people sleep, nonetheless, age is the most important influence on how much sleep you require.
Several factors can affect the quantity and quality of sleep including caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, exercise and sleep hygiene.
Caffeine blocks adenosine, the neurotransmitter that promotes sleep.
For some people, one cup of coffee in the morning can interfere with their sleep at night.
In order to promote a good night's sleep you should not have any caffeine after 2pm.
Nicotine is a stimulant to the central nervous system making it harder to fall asleep.
Avoid smoking or chewing tobacco at least one to two hours before bed time.
Alcohol is a depressant and can help some people fall asleep, however; it adversely affects the quality of sleep.
Alcohol is metabolized in a few hours and can cause middle of the night wakefulness.
Exercise is the only healthy way to increase the amount of deep sleep you experience.
However, exercising right before bedtime can make it more difficult to fall asleep.
The best time to exercise is late afternoon or at least three hours before bedtime.
Your sleep hygiene is important to quality nighttime to sleep and your level of alertness in during the day.
Maintaining a regular bedtime routine is the most critical part of good sleep hygiene.
The environment you sleep in should be cool, dark and free of distractions like music or television.
If you are having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times, sleeping excessively, or experience abnormal behaviors during sleep then you may have a sleep disorder.
In that case you should contact your health care professional.